Justin Reuben

My Journey Through ICE

The text below is from my final ICE blog where I reflect upon the year by talking about how I have learned about myself as a student, person, and a Canadain.

When reflecting upon my experience with ICE, I can say that I have definitely changed from the start of the year. I can't believe that the year is already over, to me, ICE was more than just a course, I learned many valuable lessons that will help me throughout my life as well as getting to participate in many amazing experiences such as going to Ottawa.


By going to new places and participating in new activities, I have learned a lot about myself as a person. Firstly, I have learned to have an open mindset. An example of when this happened was when I went to camp Wanakita for my very first ICE trip. I did not go into this trip with an open mindset and I thought that I would not like it. I was proved wrong because I enjoyed this trip and made many friends there. This really showed me to keep more of an open mindset because I will never know if I don't like something if I don't. I definitely think that this has caused me to mature as a person because if I were to have this trip today, I would have a different mindset going into it. When we went to Wanakita, I did not have an open mindset and I thought that I would not like it. I was proved wrong because I enjoyed this trip and made many friends there. This really showed me to keep more of an open mindset because I will never know if I don't like something if I don't. I definitely think that this has caused me to mature as a person because if I were to have this trip today, I would have a different mindset going into it.

The picture above is the class photo we took at camp Wanakita and here is the link to my camp Wanakita blog: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/preview/1311061725291248468/1941396411723756351

In addition to learning about myself as a person, I have also learned about myself as a student. Throughout the year, I have done many different projects and assignments many of which were new to me such as the mini-documentary, photo essay, and podcast. By using all these different types of media, I was able to learn the importance of them. For example, I learned that documentaries were really good for telling stories and infographics are really good for showing facts and statistics.

Here is my final ICE project where I had to use my knowledge of different types of media

Ice final.mp4

Finally, I have learned a lot about Canadian history through units such as the world war and indigenous units. Learning about my countries history and its people has taught me about the journeys that Canada has been through and how Canada came to be. I believe that this enhances my Canadain identity and brings me closer to Canada.

Overall, the ICE program has been a great experience once in a lifetime experiences where I have learned so much that applies to more than just school.